Gendered Desire and Devotional Discourse: Re-theorising Bhakti through a Feminist Lens

Abstract

This essay explores certain prominent practices and precepts of Bhakti, understood as a distinct articulation of desire. Bhakti, which can be traced back to medieval India, continues to powerfully inform and shape not only modern Hindu religious customs but also the broader popular-cultural imaginary. For several Indians, Bhakti saints are household names - people they may worship, consider their gurus, or even be named after. It would be no exaggeration, therefore, to say that Bhakti provides both diffuse and direct inspiration as well as direction to many Indians today. In doing so, it serves in people’s lives as an avenue of prescriptive possibilities and/or a set of proscriptive interdictions. Gender sociality is one of the major areas that continues to be critically influenced by Bhakti practices and precepts. Examining these, this essay contends, would be helpful in understanding their implications for gender relations, both in their own time and in the current conjuncture.